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Abstract
Europe is a continent weighed down by the shadows of its past, its wars, the traditional enmities, the suspicions of neighbours fuelled by historical memories. This has immediate consequences for the understanding and representation of the past: journalists, politicians, historians often apply simplistic, pre-conceived patterns, i.e., myths, to current events, resulting in distorted and misleading analyses. This volume exposes the way some historical myths, such as Balance of Power, Rapallo, the Special Relationship, the Franco-German Couple, the Peril of Islam, are used to blur, not to clarify our understanding of international affairs, even to manipulate contemporary politics.
Cyrill Buffet is Research Fellow at the Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin.
Beatrice Heuser is Lecturer in War Studies at King's College, London.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haunted by History | iii | ||
| Copyright Page | iv | ||
| Contents | v | ||
| Introduction | vii | ||
| Part 1. Myths of the International System | 1 | ||
| Chapter 1. Balance of Power, European Concert and Integration | 3 | ||
| Chapter 2. Myths That Keep Small Powers Going | 15 | ||
| Chapter 3. The Myth of Swedish Neutrality | 28 | ||
| Chapter 4. The Green Peril | 41 | ||
| Part 2. Compromise or Compromised? | 51 | ||
| Chapter 5. The Spanish Civil War | 53 | ||
| Chapter 6. Munich, or the Blood of Others | 65 | ||
| Chapter 7. Yalta, the Myth of the Division of the World | 80 | ||
| Chapter 8. The Myth of Potsdam | 92 | ||
| Chapter 9. Clichés of Our Memory | 103 | ||
| Part 3. Special Relationships | 115 | ||
| Chapter 10. The 'Special Relationship' | 117 | ||
| Chapter 11. Is Britain Part of Europe? | 135 | ||
| Chapter 12. Dunkirk, Dien Bien Phu, Suez or Why France Does Not Trust allies and Has Learnt to Love the Bomb | 157 | ||
| Chapter 13. Marianne and Michel | 175 | ||
| Part 4. Myths of Germany | 207 | ||
| Chapter 14. The Myth of the German Sonderweg | 209 | ||
| Chapter 15. The Myth of Prussia | 223 | ||
| Chapter 16. Rapallo | 235 | ||
| Conclusions | 259 | ||
| Appendix. The Berlin Myth | 275 | ||
| Notes on Contributors | 285 | ||
| Index | 288 |